Powerlines
PUDs, lots of green mountains, rare road crossings (fireroads) and rare power lines were our vistas.
Getoverit and I finally started to run out of daylight. We crested this ridgeline and hiked a while, realizing we were half way between shelters.
A lot of folks, hikers included, express dismay over the high tension lines crossing the mountains. But how else do we have homes with power, or towns, or jobs? For hot water or running water, or A/C or stoves, microwaves, or computers? We'd have to rethink the comforts that sustain us to have 'pretty' landscape. Same as down South with the coal smog. Or just about any modern aspect of our lives. Our hiker lives would be pretty different without goretex, nylon for the packs, sacks and tents, ABS plastic for the buckles or adjustment straps, ceramics and plastics for water pumps, stainless steel and petrol for our stoves and cookgear, electronics for our cameras and radios. Even the paper of our databooks. Hikers can be as blind as anyone else regarding what these blemishs on the landscape represent. We're not immune to the irony -- or hypocrisy -- of a NIMBY mindset. Not In My Back Yard ultimately means a primative lifestyle precious few would accept if they thought about it a bit.